Tag: gladstone

Thomas Bayrle at Gladstone Gallery

The vast scale of the three artworks in Thomas Bayrle’s current solo show at Gladstone Gallery’s cavernous 21st Street gallery speaks to the huge public profile of his subjects:  the Pope, Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Kim Kardashian.  Composed of repeated images arranged to create a portrait, Bayrle’s ‘superforms’ mimic the repetition of information via mass media and suggest that a person’s identity is formed by their messaging.  In this case, Kim Kardashian’s persona merges with the means of disseminating it – the iPhone.  (On view in Chelsea through April 23rd).

Thomas Bayrle, Kim Kardashian, pencil, acrylic and fine art pigment print on paper, mounted on gallery cardboard, 41 x 37 1/8 inches, 2021.

Ugo Rondinone at Gladstone Gallery

Like his colossal humanoids made of rough-hewn blocks of stone at Rockefeller Center in 2013 or his colorful rock stacks located outside of Las Vegas, Ugo Rondinone’s towering sculptures at Gladstone Gallery offer a transformative experience.  Titled ‘nuns + monks,’ the three figures are scaled up bronze versions of stones broken in ways that resemble figures in voluminous ecclesiastical garments.  Rondinone explains that nuns and monks exist as ‘vessel and beacon, human body and mystical source,’ and therefore represent the possibility of new metaphorical interpretation. (On view in Chelsea through June 18th.  Masks and social distancing are required.)

Ugo Rondinone, Installation view of ‘nuns + monks’ at Gladstone Gallery, May 2021.

Wangechi Mutu at Gladstone Gallery

Twelve feet in diameter and commanding Gladstone Gallery’s entire front room, Wangechi Mutu’s bronze ‘Mama Ray’ is a force to be reckoned with.  Rising up on her wing-like fins to meet visitors, this regal aquatic creature is only head-high but radiates power.  Mutu’s bronze sculptures, which include four created for the Met Museum’s prestigious façade commission in 2019, introduce new mythologies devised, the artist explains, to picture new heroes, courage, beauty and love. (On view through June 19th. Masks and social distancing are required.)

Wangechi Mutu, detail of Mama Ray, bronze, 65 x 192 x 144 inches, 2020.

Shirin Neshat at Gladstone Gallery

A young Iranian art student captures and analyses the dreams of various American subjects in Shirin Neshat’s two channel film and photography exhibition ‘Land of Dreams,’ encouraging viewers to ponder the stories and psychology of her subjects.  Here, an installation of over one hundred photographs pictures New Mexico residents along with personal info – names and birthdates – written in Farsi and drawings relating to their dreams. (On view at Gladstone Gallery through Feb 27th).

Installation view of ‘Land of Dreams,’ Chelsea, Jan 2021.

Amy Sillman at Gladstone Gallery

One ambiguous figure appears to break into multiple forms in Amy Sillman’s irresistible ‘Split 3,’ shifting to the side as if to walk off the canvas.  Dominant yellow, green and red colors draw the eye back into the painting’s depths but thick, dark horizontal lines of paint block the viewer’s journey.  Coming and going, inviting and refusing, in motion yet static, the contradictions in the canvas reward pondering.  (On view in Chelsea at Gladstone Gallery through Nov 14th.)

Amy Sillman, Split 3, acrylic and oil on linen, 72 x 60 inches, 2020.